I've been looking at cars lately for a good deal, and have been amazed by how few of them have actual temperature gauges versus idiot lights anymore. I have always had temp gauges on my cars, and I like them. I feel they tell you a lot of good info that you would miss with an idiot light. But then I haven't bought a new car in almost 20 years. Am I wrong? Has anything changed lately? If I exclude the cars without temp gauges from my buying pook, I will be missing a lot of cars.
Do I need a temp gauge?
- Thread starter Cogito
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it kinda depends what cars you are looking at. my toyota does not have one - and certainly I miss having it. although an aftermarket gauge (requires some creativity) or scangauge (plugs into your OBD connector) can be added to almost anything. all of my other cars/trucks have them.
I would like to add a temp gauge to my toyota but realistically I will never have the time. I was very glad, however, that I had a temp gauge in my truck on that 90+ degree day back in July when I had a flat tire on the boat trailer, was running dual A/C's and the temp gauge hit 230+. It was not quite hot enuf to trigger an idiot light - but I certainly wanted to know what was going on!
If you plug a temp gauge into your OBD connector, is it just an electrical connection? What I mean is does the gauge get actual temp readings? That would imply that there is a sensor somewhere sending those readings to the OBD unit, rather than just "TOO HOT" to trigger a light.
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Originally Posted By: Cogito
If you plug a temp gauge into your OBD connector, is it just an electrical connection? What I mean is does the gauge get actual temp readings? That would imply that there is a sensor somewhere sending those readings to the OBD unit, rather than just "TOO HOT" to trigger a light.
Correct. The ECM uses the ECT sensor to monitor the engine temperature. This is used to adjust ignition timing, fuel volume...etc.
It can be monitored through the OBD connector.
If you plug a temp gauge into your OBD connector, is it just an electrical connection? What I mean is does the gauge get actual temp readings? That would imply that there is a sensor somewhere sending those readings to the OBD unit, rather than just "TOO HOT" to trigger a light.
Correct. The ECM uses the ECT sensor to monitor the engine temperature. This is used to adjust ignition timing, fuel volume...etc.
It can be monitored through the OBD connector.
The temp gauge on my Subaru is faked. Temperature can change 40F degrees and it won't budge from the middle of the scale.
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
The temp gauge on my Subaru is faked. Temperature can change 40F degrees and it won't budge from the middle of the scale.
Many other manufacturers' temp gauges are like that too. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling...until the needle jumps into the red zone as a result of that leaky hose.
I have a Scangauge (which also doubles as an OBDII code reader). Well worth the cost.
The temp gauge on my Subaru is faked. Temperature can change 40F degrees and it won't budge from the middle of the scale.
Many other manufacturers' temp gauges are like that too. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling...until the needle jumps into the red zone as a result of that leaky hose.
I have a Scangauge (which also doubles as an OBDII code reader). Well worth the cost.
The temp gauge in my VW holds the needle dead center from 180F to 200F. Outside that range it acts like a normal gauge.
Yeah, the factory gauges are not much better than an idiot light. The gauge in my 04 Accord reads at exactly the same spot from 170F to 210F. There are several different gauges that plug into the OBDII port to monitor water temperature. ScanGauge is one of them.
Waay more valuable than either is a Low Coolant Level Sensor
Yeah, those are nice. My old cavalier had one of those and I remember when it was semi-low it would trip on sharp right turns, lol.
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